Watching a poet waiting for the muse to strike might not quite classify as a performing arts experience, but Beaulieu isn’t that kind of (dark, moody, introverted, dystopian) poet.

“The walls will be filled with my visual work,” he says. “My text art. I’m setting up a series of manual typewriters that people who wander by or other writers are welcome to come in and try out.”

“And,” he says, “I’ll be in the space, writing and working and being there.”

Well, I have to admit it. He had me at manual typewriter.

All hail Mount Smith-Corona!

It’s actually all a part of Beaulieu’s unique approach to teaching poetry, which he does at places like the Alberta College of Art and Design.

While he’s not the sort of poet to mope about the havoc wreaked on literature by digital culture — quite the opposite — he also had an assignment last year, where he got students to write on typewriters, just to see what kind of words old-school typing might summon from them.

He is also turned words into a kind of installation art, as much fun to look at as they are to read.

“I often work on a larger scale,” he says. “I create pieces that are bigger than 8.5 by 11” — a standard sheet of paper — “and having that kind of space to spread out in is fabulous.”

And if the view — a hallway Epcor patrons use to make their way to the various arts spaces in the building, and beyond that, Olympic Plaza — isn’t exactly the rooftops of Paris — it also represents the live version of the very best sort of social media.

“It’s like a beehive full of people in there,” he says. “There’s always going to be someone interesting wandering by. I don’t know where the conversations are going to take us, but it’s going to be very (creatively) productive.”

Beaulieu also devises imaginative ways to showcase his work.

When he was named the city’s poet laureate, they honoured the occasion by projecting some of his poetry on the Calgary Tower.

To celebrate being named the performing arts centre’s new artist-in-residence, Beaulieu is working with the Alberta Printmaker Society on a project that will transform his words into prints that will be distributed during Nuit Blanche, the city’s all-night art party that takes place in Olympic Plaza on Sept. 20.

So what are the chances of projecting some poems onto the Performing Arts Centre formerly Known as Epcor?

(If optimistic Beaulieu had a theme song, it might be Everything is Awesome.)

“I’m eager to see what I can create while I’m there,” he says. “Maybe I can create some sort of way of featuring that work — no plans yet to project on the side of the centre, but that’s the great thing about this poet laureate position.

“I really don’t know what comes down the pipe on any given day,” he says. “There’s a number of things and a number of opportunities that I’m like, well that sounds like fun! Let’s do that! It shows how open and receptive the (Calgary) arts community is.”

Come to think of it, Beaulieu is a professional wordsmith and the performing arts centre is looking for a new name.

Muse on that, Mr. Artist-in-Residence.

“They haven’t asked yet,” he says. “They’ve been pretty quiet about their potential name. I haven’t heard much about it. I get the impression that even the staff are waiting with bated breath to see how the centre will be rebranded.

“They have a really unique potential here,” he adds. “The space, like you said, is a real hub (of the city). It’s a beehive. I don’t know what they’re going to do — maybe something like Telus Spark, that kind of idea of trying to name a space. I think it’s important to emphasize the performing arts in the city and there’s this massive venue with all these various cells — not unlike a beehive. We’ll see what they come up with.”

Beehive. In Calgary, one of the most dynamic emerging arts groups is the Bee Kingdom Collective, whose beautiful and imaginative glass blowing work is currently on display right around the corner at the Glenbow. How about a Bee Kingdom piece on the roof and a Beaulieu poem screened on the side to celebrate Nuit Blanche?

“There you go,” says Beaulieu, the artist-in-residence of the performing arts centre to be named later. His work here is done.

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